Actually it's probably an anti-priority more often than a priority. I would not be particularly interested in making surfing the web a more enjoyable experience for my employees. The one thing that will end IE 6 is when Microsoft stops supporting it with security updates. Until then, I expect it to be a significant player in the browser market.

The enforced restriction (your suggestion is more of a passive aggressive one I know) of browsing is an oft cited reason for discontent among my more corporate, non-startup friends.

It seems to me a both an admission of defeat by management and a statement of distrust of employees when it is done.

True. And, I don't really have any employees, nor would I, I hope, work in a field where keeping people on old browsers makes business sense. But there may be such fields, and in those fields I don't see a likely cause of a big investment in technology updates until the old tech is truly untenable.